Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) Stock Price Down 5.3% After Insider Selling

Shares of Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) fell 5.3% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $251.50 and last traded at $252.6020. 581,592 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 4,028,365 shares. The stock had previously closed at $266.87.

Specifically, CEO William D. Mosley sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.03, for a total transaction of $5,420,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 445,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,789,398.04. This trade represents a 4.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yolanda Lee Conyers sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.91, for a total transaction of $204,682.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,528,568.91. This represents a 11.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on STX shares. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Seagate Technology from $245.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Seagate Technology from $350.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Seagate Technology from $170.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Argus boosted their price target on Seagate Technology from $170.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Seagate Technology from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.45.

Seagate Technology Stock Up 2.7%

The company has a market cap of $56.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a fifty day moving average of $248.21 and a 200 day moving average of $186.43.

Seagate Technology Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 24th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from Seagate Technology’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 24th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Seagate Technology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.97%.

Institutional Trading of Seagate Technology

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Seagate Technology by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,743,126 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,441,729,000 after acquiring an additional 769,009 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Seagate Technology by 12.9% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 18,920,792 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,607,321,000 after purchasing an additional 2,161,191 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Seagate Technology by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,276,278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,196,420,000 after purchasing an additional 274,913 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Seagate Technology during the third quarter valued at $1,187,621,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Seagate Technology by 1.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,567,181 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $656,066,000 after purchasing an additional 85,660 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Seagate Technology Company Profile

Seagate Technology Holdings plc provides data storage technology and solutions in Singapore, the United States, the Netherlands, and internationally. It provides mass capacity storage products, including enterprise nearline hard disk drives (HDDs), enterprise nearline solid state drives (SSDs), enterprise nearline systems, video and image HDDs, and network-attached storage drives.